If you said hi to me while I’m eating dim sum alone I’lll throw a fucking har gao at you

What the hell, why are you wasting food for. Har gao is a treasure, throw some ham sui kok instead.

Weren't you complaining the other day about no sense of community in Vancouver?

This is on you bro. People be desperately trying to sit down next to you and be friends, while you're just heaving trays of dimsum at them.

You sure that guy at KFC wasn't just trying to share his chicken and have a heart-to-heart before you kicked his ass?

I'm sure Hobz would rather throw some kok around if he could.

I said ham sui kok not ham sup cock

in nordic countries their concept of personal space is like 3 meters, so there's no chance to talk to anyone there.

Americans are generally more 'outgoing' than Canadians - both positively (striking up random conversations) and negatively (calling people out, starting shit). But yeah in Asia, especially more populated cities, it's waaaaaay below Canada.

Badhobz is trolling hard and he's actually a sweetheart. He gave my kid a giant stuffed bear the first time I met him.

I found this to be very true in NYC, the people there have absolutely 0 filter. It was beautiful and disgusting in the same time.

The absolute worst case I saw, this was some shit straight out of a movie....

I'm waiting at the subway station for a train, a few people around, maybe 20 on entire platform. There's an average looking chick to my left.
The train rolls up, dude gets off, he makes eye contact with this chick, and the very first thing out of his mouth was "daaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyymmmm gurl you the ugliest looking thing I've seen all day, nuuuuuu uuuuuuuhhh, DAHM" and proceeds to keep walking out of the station

I'm just standing there absolutely mind blown with my jaw on the floor, I wasn't sure if they were friends fucking with each other, or what.

Then the chick started balling crying her eyes out, yeah they weren't friends.

This kind of shit would happen on the regular, good, bad, almost daily on my commute. For some reason I only experienced it in NYC, everywhere else in the states was pretty vanilla in comparison

Was it from Costco?

Little V is such a sweetheart I’d gladly give it to her. Not sure why you didn’t let her keep it *probably cuz you don’t wanna deal with removing that giant stuffy from the back of the m3 while V clings on with kungfu grip*

Lol mostly because it would take up half her room it's so big.

Badhobz doesn’t have a truck and was just hoping to offload a massive item for free rather than hitting the dump.

I’m on to you.

The GF and I just came back from Palm Springs and had the same observations. We couldn't stop talking about it.

Went to the Lakers game one night and then to a bar beside Crypto.com, ended up spending 3 hours talking to a random dude on a business trip from New York about politics, and life in general.

The other days the same thing, random chats at different bars with staff, bartenders, patrons, even in damn shopping markets.

I'm always blown away how friendly and talkative Americans are whenever I visit the US or running into them at places abroad.

It's such a stark contrast to how people engage each other in Vancouver.

EDIT: Also had to add, never in my life did I get so much free shit on a trip in recent memory.

1. One night sitting at a rum bar in LA, bartender would periodically serve me up random rums to try from various countries, even made me a few free Mai-Tais and Old Fashions, just because. These aren't cheap drinks.
2. Went to another bar, some guy was selling tacos, only accepted cash and Venmo/Cash-App. I only had a enough cash on me for one order of tacos (was trying to grab two orders), he gave me the second order for free ($20 worth of tacos). Ended up grabbing him some shots as a thank you.
3. Went to a night market in Palm Springs, most vendors accepted card, GF wanted some Arancini so we went to a booth expecting they'd accept card. Lady at the counter says they don't take card, only cash, or those damn apps we Canadians don't have. We went damn, nevermind then, she gave us the order anyways, once again, just cause. I couldn't leave it like that so we drove to a bank after the market to grab some cash and came back and paid her.

It's little things like that happening in the span of a few days which NEVER occur here in Vancouver.

My friends and I have always tried to figure out what it is about Vancouver that makes it this way.

I air on the side of the immigration factors, and the lack of a culture of assimilation in Canada, perhaps the transient nature of Vancouver as well, but lots of cities in the US have transience.

I feel like the lack of assimilation is one of the primary factors, people bring their segregate nature, don't bother to learn the language, or opt to stay solely within their own community and demographics. I think that problem permeates the culture in this city and results in people that are even from here adopting those same characteristics.

I think like 75% of that is the vibe you put off when you're on vacation. You're going to appear very different to strangers when you're relaxed and having a mellow time as opposed to a quick dinner out on a work night. I've definitely had some pretty good interactions with strangers here when I'm looking for it.

I’ll give my wife some credit she’s actually made some new friends from completely random encounters here in Vancouver who she now regularly hangs out with whereas I would almost never engage with strangers lol.. I think partly that’s a guy thing as well

People she’s met at clothing sales in passing and stuff like that they kinda struck it off, exchanged instagrams or whatever and now hang out. I feel like as people are kind of stuck in these shrinking friend groups over time, milenials and others are now looking for friendships in unlikely places outside of work etc.

Back to the states thing, we met a guy at the bar waiting for our flight at LAX who, to my fault, I always think someone who tries to engage in a convo randomly is kind of a weirdo etc. (Vancouver bias maybe) but we start chatting and the guy is super cool, we share a bunch of travel stories and eventually exchange instagrams etc. just a fun convo for 45 minutes or so waiting for our flight

I think generally (and maybe unsurprisingly to you guys lol) I think I come off as an unapproachable person as I’ve generally got a kind of resting bitch face etc. I’ve never in my life been one to just smile and have some shit eating grin on my face, but I’m not opposed to having a conversation. I’d almost never be the type of person to initiate it though

People here hate being the ones to break the ice. I see it all the time, even at a wedding or something people just talk with their spouse until someone at the table starts asking questions (or everyone just gets drunk and loose) and suddenly people are happy to start talking.

Even on vacation you can tell the couples that are from Van at the resort pool cause they keep to themselves until some dude from Texas starts talking to them and then they are happy to open up a bit.

I think I've had my best random stranger conversations in America than in Vancouver.

On one trip to Portland, I asked every person I interacted with why they all drive Subarus. No one had a real answer but it made interesting conversation. I also got hit on by a chick at the gas station LMAO.

On one of our Ridge trips, some dude did a double take in a parking lot and was like YOU HAVE A BEAR ON YOUR LICENSE PLATE. I've also gotten conversations about the Type R and if it's stock. The best ones are when you're driving by and kids are like WOAH THERE'S 3 OF THEM!! I've also had positive experiences chatting with random townspeople in all the small towns I've been to near Ridge.

At Formula D, in buttfuck nowhere hicktown WA state with no Asians in sight, I had the best time hanging out with these two dudes and their gfs. Just cracking jokes and talking about life. These are people I wouldn't normally consider to even talk to. Well I also had great conversation about the horrible service at the Burger King lol. There was also two photographer dudes and one of the drift team owners that randomly joined in conversation. My friends and I had late dinner at a pub in Bellevue - also great conversation with random people there.

Even in Nelson, the people there were so open to conversation. Great conversation to be had with (hot) waitresses, random ppl on the street and MILFs from Revelstoke.




In Vancouver, after a conference ended at night, I needed directions to a SkyTrain station. Got directions from a lady headed in the same direction and chatted for a bit but now that I'm older - I'm pretty sure she was caught off guard/thought that it was creepy. I was 16 or smt at the time tho so like ??

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Don't forget to set your clocks back and hour. spring forward, fall back. Get the hour back we lost in the spring.

Technically Sunday at 2:00 am. Gives people Sunday to get their shit together before work week begins. Not that work week means anything to a lot of people.

I think I'm the same. I never thought about it much til I was on a trip and I realized that while we were there a fair number of people struck up conversations with my friend but not a single person did with me. Heck half of them just straight up ignored me, and I think I'm pretty socially awkward so it was like alright I guess I'll just stop talking then.

But when I'm working at customer sites people will chat with me sometimes. I guess I'm more approachable with safety glasses and a beard net obscuring my face. That's probably a bad thing lol.

The funny thing is that when I moved to Toronto after university, I was shocked by not just how ethnically and culturally diverse the city is, but how readily these people of different backgrounds would interact and form groups of friends. And the concept of "being Canadian" seemed so much moreso at the forefront of conversation and culture there. An upbeat combination of "this who we are", "this is where we each came from", and "this is what we can be together", full of curiosity and pride and respect.

So I don't even think it's a Canadian thing. And I think you're right that it's not the amount of immigration per se, but the norms surrounding how immigrants are integrating with society, and in turn influencing the folks around them.

This ^ + high cost of living which causes everyone to revert back to the immigration mentality of only fending for yourselves. Which sucks.

I think the difference is that for places like Palm Spring... most people are there to have a good time. It doesn't matter whether you are a millionaire or a broke college student, the reason you are there are the same.

Here in Vancouver, everyone is so uptight about everything and, yet, ironically, being so pretentious about everything at the same time.

I have acquaintances who I know they aren't financially comfortable. Between mortgage, cars and family, they just don't have much room given their jobs. And yet they are pushing their kid so hard in order to get him into an elite private school.

:fuckthatshit: I was really confused. So I asked... is going to this school and all these lessons what your kid want/like to do? They say... honestly, his kid only really like baseball, but it's their only chance of trying to "move up" the social hierarchy. And that their children's success is their success.

I don't understand. And on the other hand, I also have some old-money caucasian friends who don't give a rat ass about how their kids do. Their kids are the only one at school who don't take any afterschool class. Well, they do a lot of rowing and biking, but more like a hobby than any particular extra-curricular activity. And I also know for a fact that they never worry about money. The other day they came over for dinner "oh, you got a new Tesla". I told him all about it and he was like "oh... really interesting".

Next thing I know, he got a new Model S Plaid.

So, I don't know... the gap in wealth and cost of living in YVR has pushed the society into this fucked up situation and that to be totally honest, I don't see a real solution and it's really affecting the city as a whole.

Cot Dam............... just found out that one of my favourite teachers at Britannia passed away less than a year ago. I know nobody lives forever, but I never thought he would pass on. He was very kind to me. He inspired everybody he met. He got me interested in astronomy. One of my favourite courses was earth sciences and astronomy. He was very knowledgeable.

https://vancouversunandprovince.reme...ngh-1087167177
https://ttcanada.ca/chandra-madhosingh-1937-2022/

anyway....................... Namo Amida Butsu

On a side note, his wife, Donna Faye Madhosingh, is a very well known music educator. When I first met her via Chandra, I was taken back by his wife's good looks. She was very pretty. And, she was very intelligent. I saw her again at UBC when she was lecturing/guest speaker at some music symposium sponsored by the music education department of UBC.